LARIMORE, N.D. (AP) - Dennis McCoy can get part of his corn crop to the bellies of hogs without a hiccup. But the North Dakota farmer believes ethanol made from his other corn acres is hamstrung by traditional truck and rail shipping. ''I think the ethanol industry is overbuilt for time frame right now,'' said McCoy, who has been growing corn for fuel for 25 years near Larimore, in eastern North Dakota. ''Maybe the industry needs to step back and figure out the infrastructure to get it where it needs to go.'' Shipping ethanol from farm states to the East and West coasts by pipeline could open up markets and help clear a bottleneck that has kept the fuel additive from getting to the pumps. An industry group is already studying such a project. Not everyone thinks one is needed. The ethanol industry is still new enough that it's not clear where the pipeline should go or whether ethanol prices will hold up enough to make it worth building, skeptics say. Bob Dinneen, president and chief executive of the Renewable Fuels Association, said a dedicated ethanol pipeline may not be as secure as rail cars, barges and trucks. A pipeline ''is an option, but I don't think it's THE option,'' Dinneen said. Right now, corn from McCoy's farm is hauled to a local grain elevator, where a small portion is sold to Canadian hog producers and the bulk to ethanol plants in the region. From there, the fuel has to be shipped by rail or truck to markets across the county. The Association of Oil Pipe Lines, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group that represents about 50 pipeline companies, is studying whether gasoline blends containing up to 20 percent ethanol can be transported safely in existing pipelines to break the bottleneck. The study also will focus on stress corrosion cracking and design requirements for new ethanol-only pipelines, said Mike Mears, chairman of the pipeline group and vice president of Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. of Tulsa, Okla. The company operates an 8,500-mile pipeline network from Texas to North Dakota, and from Colorado to Illinois. The study will cost about $800,000, about 10 percent funded by a federal grant, Mears said. Pipeline companies are paying for the bulk of the research, he said. ''The pipeline industry, in general, sees some opportunity here,'' Mears said. ''But the research being done is very much in its infancy.'' Ethanol production this year is pegged at 6.8 billion gallons and is expected to swell to 9 billion gallons next year, said Ron Lamberty, a vice president of the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based American Coalition for Ethanol. President Bush has called for reducing U.S. gasoline use by up to 20 percent by 2017, mainly by increasing alternative fuel production such as ethanol. The U.S. has 131 ethanol refineries, 10 of which are expanding, and 72 more are being built according to the Renewable Fuels Association. Distribution remains a major challenge to the industry's growth. The price of ethanol dropped by 30 percent earlier this year, and production stalled on some ethanol plants hit by high corn prices and construction costs. Ethanol is not shipped in existing pipelines because its high oxygen content makes it too corrosive and it also absorbs water and impurities in pipelines. Ethanol pipelines have been used successfully in Brazil, the second-biggest ethanol producer behind the U.S. Lamberty said moving ethanol by pipeline would help the industry ''but it's a chicken-and-egg argument - the infrastructure needs to be in place before there is enough volume to pay for it.'' Shipping ethanol by pipeline would be cheaper and faster, said Mears. It would also eliminate the need to build offloading infrastructure for rail and truck shipments and ethanol storage tanks at blending terminals, where ethanol is mixed with gasoline. If blended ethanol can be safely moved through a pipeline, it would reduce the need for more multimillion-dollar blending terminals, he said. Testing on whether ethanol blends can be safely moved in existing pipelines could be done in mid-2008, Mears said. ''Our guys are always watching for market opportunities and we're watching how the ethanol market grows,'' said Raymond Paul, a spokesman for the Association of Oil Pipe Lines. ''If we can move enough volume and move it safely, our guys will be interested in it.'' Association members carry nearly 85 percent of crude oil and refined petroleum pro